Our house is a good size, and with only three children, there was enough room when we moved in for everyone to have their own room. (Except me and hubby, we like to share, but when one of the kids moves out, I’m going to make her room into a pink, “Shabby Chic” reading and napping room just for me and any future granddaughters. Shh! Don’t tell!)

Anyway, the girls were 12, 10, and 6 when we moved in, and we let them choose their rooms. Each chose a different one based on her personality. Youngest chose the largest room, which was good, because she had lots of toys. Our middle girl chose the room with slanted ceilings that was the most old-fashioned looking, one that one of the heroines from her many books would live in. Our eldest chose the sunny room at the top of the opposite side of the stairs… the whole south side of the upstairs is her room. It looks like a little attic and was technically called a “bonus room.” If you know real estate, you know that means it has no closet. For years, we dealt with this issue by having her share a closet with hubby and I (the other girls’ closets were too small to share) for her “hang ups” and shoving the rest of her clothing into her dresser, storing off-season clothes under the bed.

She also had two beds in her room, which was convenient for having friends or little sisters spend the night, but took up a lot more space in the tiny room, leaving her no room for bookshelves, which she desperately needed. I don’t have many pictures of her room, and I forgot to take a before picture. I just wish you could see the books stacked on the floor! We even painted it aqua and added those neat, peel and stick dots… but no closet rendered it just not “done.”

Our sweet eldest went off to college over two years ago. Even though she spends more time away from home that at home now, we wanted her to feel like we cared about her personal space, and that she is special to us. We finally found a way to fix it up that would work without calling in a contractor or spending a large amount of money. (Pinterest helped.)

Here’s what we did:

As you can see, we used one of the popular “expedit” bookshelves from IKEA. (Hate to say it, but they were being discontinued. There are other, similar bookshelves in that line.) Hubby anchored it to the wall and purchased a closet rod from Home Depot and a little hardware to go with that. The whole project cost less than $75. (If you wanted to be even more frugal, you could find a bookshelf at a yard sale or thrift store.) Now her clothes AND books have a home, and I can’t wait for her to see it. (The shoe rack on the bottom is also from IKEA. I love the simplicity of their designs.)

I am keeping all the hangers the same color to add to the simplicity and for color continuity (can you tell I love to read Better Homes and Gardens?!). Hubby thought of putting a curtain across the front, but I like the look of openness, and if you peruse any of IKEA’s catalogs, you can see many designers like it, also. But the main point is that WE like it, and I think our daughter will, too. Better late than never!

I’m so glad she chooses to come home for Spring Break, and that this little treat awaits our girl. We love her so!

Here at Habits for a Happy Home we love Pinterest! It’s a tool that we use for building habits. Collecting ideas for making happy homes.
For example, Kendra created a bedroom sanctuary with inspiration from Pinterest. You can read all about how she did it in her post, Surviving Life with Boys: Creating a Sanctuary.

We invite you over to browse all our Habits for a Happy Home Pinterest boards. And, of course, we hope you will subscribe so you won’t miss a post! (simply enter your name and email address in the upper right hand corner to subscribe).

This time last year I made it my goal to cook dinner for my family more often. You can read about it here. I was living up to my promise to my family until my son was hospitalized and our lives got busy with doctors’ appointments and tests. I knew I needed to get back to providing home cooked dinners, so I decided finally to try some of the freezer meals I see posted online.

I have a dream. In my dream there is a big playroom, with all kinds of toys, neatly organized in color coordinated and labeled bins. The boys share all the toys happily and everyone cleans up the day’s play messes together. Something like this lovely creation from homeedit.com:

In that same dream, boys’ bedrooms are toy-free and serene. Restful, clean, organized. With desks for thinking and schooling and drawing, a cozy spot for reading, and a comfy bed for sleeping.

I know it is unrealistic. I know the picture in my head comes from too many late nights on Pinterest and Houzz. But I’m hopeful that somewhere between the Pinterest dream and my current toy-ridden reality, there is a practical, real-life way to get our playing and resting a little more organized.

The drill-sergeant side of me wanted to just announce to the children that from this day forward, all toys will be shared and no toys will be allowed in bedrooms. But the side of me with a heart (albeit the smaller, weaker side) held back. I have talked to them about it a few times. The three-year-old is oblivious. He plays with whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and his ideas about what life should be like are thankfully still somewhat malleable. The seven-year-old thinks it is a fabulous idea. “You mean, I get to play with ALL of THEIR toys?!? YES!!” The oldest two, eleven and nearly thirteen, are understandably terrified of the idea. They’ve been accumulating toys the longest, so they have the most to lose. They both love the idea of a clutter-free bedrooms and a big play space, but they hate the idea of sharing their stuff. I told them that we could put up some high shelves for displaying their creations that would be out of reach for little ones, and that maybe we could display some of their favorite things that don’t really get played with on shelves in their rooms. And after talking it all through, they are willing to try it!

So, friends, I need your help. I want to hear from you. Have you done anything like this? What are your experiences with playrooms and shared toys and multiple ages? What are your best toy organization tips? Favorite play space ideas? Things to avoid? Anybody try to go toy-free in the bedrooms? How did that work for you?

Habit Formation – I think Habit formation should be a very important part of child training. I truly believe that God created us to be creatures of habit because having a good habit just makes things so much easier for us. Once something is a habit, you don’t even have to think about it, you just do “it”.

Let Your Light Shine – Oh, Friends! Let us remember why we are here. We are called to be a light in the darkness. We are called to point people to the Light, not the darkness. Yes, things are bad and getting worse in our nation and around the world. But God is GOOD! Let people see and hear about the wonders of God rather than the mistakes of men.